For the natural foods industry, Whole Foods has been more than a grocery store—it’s been a launchpad and incubator for emerging brands because of its localized buying. Most industry watchers see more consolidated buying in Whole Foods’ future, which would presumably mean less opportunity for small brands. So, what now? Kelli Masilun, vice president of client development at Concentric, draws a few lessons from this—first that brands need to create multiple revenue streams to avoid being overly dependent on one retailer, and also that they need to have a long-term distribution strategy and need to be able to tell a bigger story to both consumer and retailer.Read more at Forbes…

Latium Enterprises has reportedly signed a letter of intent to pay $26 million for the 150 or so remaining stores operated by Vitamin World, the New York-based supplement retailer that filed for bankruptcy in September, according to court documents reported by Newsday. Latium is a financing, consulting and commercial property ownership and management firm also based in New York. Read more at Newsday…

Three-quarters of consumers visit more than one store per week for their groceries, according to a new report from Acosta, and two-thirds visit two to three retailers a week. Sixty percent of shoppers will leave one store to find a product for a lower price at another retailer. Read more at Progressive Grocer…

Pressure from consumers and retailers to disclose or even remove certain potentially harmful ingredients used in household products brought the maker of Mr. Clean and Comet to the side of transparency. After years of fighting the notion that they should give away their proprietary formulas by disclosing ingredients, P&G and other companies joined lawmakers and environmental groups in support of a new California law that will require extensive ingredient labeling. But some trade groups are pushing back. Read more at Bloomberg…

Most consumers who feel emotionally connected to a brand would be willing to spend more with that brand than with others, according to a survey by Capgemini’s Digital Transformation Institute. The survey also found that millennials and urban dwellers lead in emotional engagement with brands. Read more at Fierce Retail…